kurt

That's funny.

It's old information, but it's hardly old news. It's not, and has never been, news. That's the problem. No first tier news organization has given any of this any coverage. Der Spiegel getting on it is rather amazing.

And by association, Radon? http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... 88744.html

Malarkey.

I guess that's what I'm saying. If something happens to make those columns move a centimeter, there's a lot more going a whole lot worse, and column creep is a superfluity. To the point about putting it all in there and letting the client decide, sure, of course. OTOH, they hired me with the idea I'd sort through this stuff so they wouldn't have to.

All good points, but there is so much unbelievably lousy crap in Chicago, I guess I draw the line at stuff that, very simply, no one cares about and no one will ever repair. Ever. It's hard enough to get people to care about stuff that effects them immediately; filling out reports with vague and highly unlikely possibilities gets kinda silly. If there's a tornado, the place blows apart. If there's an earthquake, it all falls down. We got enough high wind to feel reasonably secure that nothing's going to blow away.

What warnings, if any, do people indicate in their reports when they find Hardiboard siding that was installed the old way....i.e., without the metal flashing and without the now required clearance between the siding and horizontal surfaces like drip caps and horizontal band trim? The installation is >15 years old and it's in perfect condition. How heavy do folks lean on the idea it's wrong beyond just pointing it out and explaining the particulars?

I've felt a couple. The one in '87 was remarkable, but I didn't hear about anything falling down. No one is ever going to repair those things in a thousand years. I can't get people to fix stair railings or install more GFCI's; getting them to repair posts in case of an earthquake....I don't think so. I wouldn't say anything in a HI report about those posts; let them come after me when the city is aflame and in shambles. I'll hide out in the ruins with the rest of the dystopian horde. '87 was the one where Governor Big Jim Thompson requested an engineering study to determine what would happen if the big one hit. The report stated that the entire city would fall down and it would take billions to reinforce all the buildings that needed reinforcing to prevent it from falling down. In typical legislative response, the report was promptly dismissed and forgotten.

Agreed. This is making up problems where none exist. It's stupid, but it's not a problem until the New Madrid fault let's go, and if that happens, I still doubt it would mean much because the entirety of Chicago is going to fall down.

OK, I'd be essentially condemning everything related to the pool. It's a cobble job.

Yeah, what Baird said... The fire separation stuff sounds relatively easy. The pool, the weird gutters and sheet metal stuff just isn't right. The pool doesn't seem to have been thought through adequately; it gives the impression of someone just winging it. I'd report the fire separation stuff as best I could, and I'd be reporting the pool as problematic at best. Lacking engineering and shop drawings for the poor, which I'm sure don't exist, there's no way anyone can forecast how it's going to work, other than badly.

Yeah, one of those too.

It's a slate roof, which needs some work, but nothing remarkable. It was about the brick and the timber. It's sort of wattle and daub with brick infill. Really crappy idea. I think Fabry is closest on the brick. Abstract brick expressionism sounds historical; I'll put it in the report and make people ask if it's actually a thing.

Evanston. NE by the lake. And arguments....yes. There was arguing, not me, I just set the stage. Facts upset people today.

This mess of scrambled brick, kinda timbered, mortared w/brick scramble.... Half-timber Tudor-esque? Clinker-Timber? What? I have no idea..... Click to Enlarge 84.86 KB Click to Enlarge 76.74 KB Click to Enlarge 69.61 KB

I feel bad for the folks that got screwed. I would hope that this would get broad media attention, but I doubt that it will. I hate that ****ing show.

I love my phone clinometer app. Works great. That said, when it comes to roof pitch, I usually just make an educated guess based on dimensional observations.

Who's the skinny guy with his hands in the engine compartment?

That's because almost no one reads home inspection reports.

Do it. Do it as much as you can. Write a lot. Make mistakes. Write stuff that upon review, you think is as lousy as the people reading it think it is. If you get someone to make comments such as calling you an ostentatious asshole, liar, and provocateur, then you're making headway. Additionally, HI's are living in the last century. Reading, always a problem with the average American, is sliding even further into irrelevancy. This is not a lament, it is a fact. If 1/10 of the literature about the direction of media and presentation is true, and I know that it is, then what you really want to be integrating into your classes is the effective use of pictorial presentation. I drink coffee with the guy that runs McDonalds Corporation annual meeting in Orlando. 16,000 attendees, and they have to get ideas across. How do they do it? Not with words. As few words as possible. Pictures telling a story highlighted with keywords. Red arrows pointing at what's relevant. PowerPoint is beyond yesterday. Active images integrated with ideas presented as a story is now and into the future. What words you do use should be as selective as your media. It ain't about the words, it's the visuals and the story. That's how people learn.

It's a comfort to be dismissed out of hand. There is no way of proving what happened in the past, and I would rather be thought an ostentatious liar than a bore. Achieving irrelevancy is an oddly agreeable condition. Being dismissed by home inspectors is it's own stamp of validation. I mean, think about this. It's not enough for HI's to use words that no one knows or wants to look up. For HI's, one has to be proud and insist on contradicting all good writing practice, described in every manual of style or writing guideline. It's almost inscribed as canon in the HI world that to be obtuse and confusing is desirable and commendable. It's time to move on.....

I recall hearing that word from a leather elbow patched tweed jacketed pipe smoking ichthyologist, wearing Hush Puppie loafers. Erudition worn lightly, and with accompanying normal language, is the best kind. I like words people know. Otherwise, I'm the guy in the Hush Puppies.

I thought there were a couple engineering studies and at least one manufacturer that came out against using EIFS for architectural detailing. No quoins, horizontal bands, or similarly grotesque fake details with EIFS. I used to have a link to an article about this, but it's buried somewhere in the link library. Does anyone else remember that or have a link?

Yes, all WRB's and flashing should be "shingled" over anything below it. "On top" is sort of correct, but it's not precise. The shingling term better describes the method.

Yep. You got yourself a mushroom ranch.